Shattered Glass
by kick-push
Summary: As the aang gang is forced to lived in the Jhong Shi city, they face many problems involving romance, royalty, and death. Toph helps the gang conquer sickness, love, and fear. But can she help herself before its too late?
1. intro

CRAZY first time fanfic!! Yeah. Please read and review. . .it's worth it. . . (note: my story takes place in the same avatar world. The war is still going on, but is not mentioned in my story. They can still bend)

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**SHATTERED GLASS**

**intro**

As it rained, four kids stayed inside a cave. They all were asleep except for a blind girl. Sitting at the open edge of the cave, she felt a few drops fall on her pale skin. She sat there for hours, just letting the small droplets of water soak her hair. She just sat there, concentrating, drenched.

In the back of the small cave, a bald boy lay on his soft mat awake. He turned to look at his friends. One of them, a beautiful water tribe girl. Her long hair trailed down her back as it curled and waved. Her silk blue robe shined in the moonlight. She turned over and slept quietly.

He turned his head to see his other friend. Also from the water tribe, a boy with a short ponytail snored on his black mat. The monk's own pet, a flying lemur, was resting on the water tribesman's belly. The ponytailed boy smiled drowsily. He picked up the lemur and jammed it into his mouth. It woke up, finding its head in a dark, cramped space. It squeezed out of his mouth to sleep next to its owner. The monk petted his lemur softly.

As he looked towards the opening of the cave, he saw a figure. It just stayed there, motionless. He walked to it and found out it was a girl. He then recognized her as his other friend. "Oh, hey Toph." He yawned as he started, "What are you doing up so early?? . . . We should get back to sleep."

"There's something out there," she said, not looking at anything but the floor.

The boy yawned as he said, "Wha?? I'm sure it's nothing to worry about."

"There's something rampaging in those woods." With her earthbending, she felt a few, light poundings on the ground. "It's looking for something."

At this point, the monk was already lying on the ground with his eyes closed. He was asleep. The blind girl said to herself plainly, "Yeah, it's probably nothing. . .whatever." She also rested her head on the ground and softly said, "nothing." She closed her eyes and slept.


	2. to interpret

to interpret

Toph suddenly woke up to the sound of rushing water. She couldn't breathe. She turned over to feel her hair heavy on her head. She stood up, gasping as she felt water dripping from her face. She groaned, thinking, ' What??'

Sokka was standing right next to her, splashing water in her face repeatedly. He looked back, still splashing water in her face. He was speaking with Aang and Katara, who were awake also. "-and froze to death," Sokka finished. Toph felt a jolt of energy and was wide awake. She spit water out of her mouth. "Oh, you're awake," Sokka said.

"Good morning. How was your sleep?" Katara asked.

"Horrible." Toph was straight forward with her answer. She had only slept for two hours. As she headed out of the cave, Sokka followed. She noticed the rain had stopped.

Amazed, Sokka said, "If that's not an amazing sight, I don't know what is! Right Toph?" It was true. In front of them was a giant field. A peaceful lake was at the far side, opposite to them. Behind it was the blurry image of a few hills. A vast forest of oak trees stood four yards to their left. All the way to their right, (to be more precise, about 60 yards) stood another oak forest where a tiger-monkey ran from. The beast went to the other forest, climbing a tree. To their right, against the cave wall, flowers bloomed, yellow and red. A few iguana-birds flew out of the left forest and disappeared into the morning sky. The air was fresh with the smell of fall. Birds chirped, rocks fell, the water –calm.

In return to Sokka's previous question, Toph stood there, looking down in silence. She started walking.

"Oh, right. . . .heh heh," Sokka giggled softly and slowly. He backed away, inside the cave.

As Toph walked towards the lake, she thought about the strange creature that had appeared last night. 'What was that??'

At that moment, everybody started getting ready for the day. Aang went to the lake. As he freshened up, Katara did her hair. She braided the back into a long ponytail. She connected two strands from the front to the back, forming her "hair-loopies." As she started out of the cave, Aang was coming back in, all drenched. Sokka was preparing himself, too, as he shaved a small mustache and tied his hair up, in a short ponytail. While Katara practiced her waterbending by the lake, she noticed Toph, shifting soil on the ground.

"Hey, Toph! What's on your mind?"

Toph replied, saying, "Nothing really. . . ." She suddenly forgot about what happened last night. Katara ignored and continued bending.

Aang went deeper into the cave to find his flying bison, Appa. "What's up buddy!" In response, the large animal roared. Aang smiled. He petted Appa's head as he brought him out of the cave.

Everybody was outside. A large rumble could be heard from above. They looked up as Sokka said, "What is that?"

Aang grabbed his staff. With a fast motion towards the ground, it turned into a glider. "I'll go check it out." He held onto the edge of the front "wings" and flew into the air. With his airbending, he glided softly off the ground. He looked out, he breathed in, he saw nothing. But it was that certain nothingness that startled him. Behind the small, caved mountain was a giant, burned out field. Soot, all on the ground. Remains of what was thought to be trees. Aang's eyes widened as his jaw dropped. Parallel to the caved mountain, (across the field) were four other mountains, each flat at their tops. One of them, to the far right, had a small bump though. It also had one large, metal pipe sticking out of its left and another at its right. Aang looked at each mountain curiously and noticed a small house sitting on the side of one of them. This mountain was second to the left. With mixed feelings of confusion and despair, he turned back.

Sokka and Katara noticed Aang as he descended. "What happened?" Sokka asked. Aang told them about the empty field. He told them about the mountains, pipes, and the house.

After a while, Katara was the first to ask, "What should we do then? We can't just ignore this."

"Exactly," Sokka said. "I suggest we should check it out. OK, so here's the plan."

"Plan?! Why do we need a plan to explore a field?!" Katara returned.

"I just think we need to be smart while walking ALONE IN AN ABANDONED FIELD!!!"

"Since when are YOU smart?" Katara said, grinning as her arms crossed.

"Maybe we should start investigating," Toph interrupted.

Aang ended the conversation with a firm "Right." As Sokka growled and muttered, the others walked to the cave wall. Toph and Aang earthbended a platform to bring them up. Appa and Momo flew up on their own. Sokka was left behind and noticed it when he turned around.

"Hey, wait for me!" he said. He jogged back, half falling. He attempted climbing the mountain before Appa pushed him onto his back. Sokka held onto Appa's saddle as the bison darted straight up. The sun shone into his eyes and Appa descended into the field.


End file.
